What made baseball fun this week: Elly De La Cruz stole home, All-Star shenanigans

Chicks dig the long ball: I like the fact that you really like the Home Run Derby

Okay. This slide is going to be very different than the other three, but I don’t really care. Apparently, y’all really care about the Home Run Derby. Look, it’s not my thing, and it probably never will be. I would rather die than listen to Chris Berman say back more times in a second than times he has ever used the internet in his life. Then again, only he can live such a blessed life, man.

But then I saw this and then a few other things leading into Tuesday night’s All-Star Game on FOX.

I get it now. The Home Run Derby is your big, dumb dog. He’s stupid, but you love him anyway! To me, it might have been the kids in the outfield slapping hands with the All-Stars on both teams, or that eight-year-old running around the bases before the start of the game. I think what it did was remind me of when I was 10 and the All-Star Game came to Atlanta in 2000. It changed my whole life.

I went to Fanfest at the Georgia World Congress Center with my dad, my best friend at the time and his dad. We got autographs from the late, great Phil Niekro, who gave me really sage advice. “Do you still love baseball, John?” “Yes, Sir.” “Well, keep playing, John, and good things will happen, as long as you love the game.” I made my first All-Star team a season later and played travel ball.

The Home Run Derby is not my thing, but I’m not about to yuck your yum or jade a 10-year-old.

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